Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Somehow I doubt that National Post columnst Lorne Gunter, who loves to disparage human rights rulings that favour LGBT citizens, will now come to the defense of Bar Le Stud in Montreal.

The leather bar has settled with a woman who claimed the bar discriminated against her. Audrey Vachon filed a complaint to Quebec's human rights commission last May after she was asked to leave the establishment because she is a woman. She was sitting at the bar with her father, Gilles Vachon.

In a statement released today, the human rights commission said the two parties had reached a settlement, but refused to provide specific details. Commission spokesperson Robert Sylvestre, however, said the bar must respect the charter of rights, which means it has no right to refuse people entry because of their gender or sexual preference.

Oh, the powerful hand of the secular state strikes again, telling private businesses they must serve all members of the public, not just some members of the public of their choosing! I'll look forward to Gunter's outrage in a future column, like the one he wrote yesterday lamenting the inability of a Christian organization to fire a lesbian simply because she was lesbian. (I won't be holding my breath, however.)

But seriously, I agree with the Quebec commission. This kind of discrimination is wrong no matter who does it.